Of the Invention and Breaking of Norms
by Ravenclaw's Glen
Summary: The dust has barely settled on the body of Tom Riddle, and Ginny and Harry have some catching up to do. Harry and Ginny are in love, Ron is an idiot, Hermione is clever, pairings and personalities are canon. A H&G love story, non-explicit M.
1. Settling Dust

**Song to play: Tears and Laughter — Tall tree 6Ft. Man**

Ginny /

Ginny breathed quickly as the dust fell in the new morning sunlight. It could have been a lovely morning, peaceful, even. Small, deep breaths. Less than a second - then the roaring. Her vision came in flashes: A wand spinning, the blur of robes, the gleaming red of her own terror, Harry. Harry, standing there, a wand in each hand, eyes fixed on the falling figure of Voldemort, centered her. And Ginny ran for him as if she would lose everything. There would be a funeral, there would be grieving, there would be scars. The only thing that mattered right now was that Harry's hands were in her hair, his lips were on hers. Chaos spun around them in an incredible blur.

Ginny let him go, let him be with the others who needed him for the time being. "The perks of being with a damn hero," she thought as she hugged a sobbing professor McGonagall. Everything was in a haze of grief, happiness, and the actual fog of war. She found herself, an hour later, sitting with her exhausted head resting on her mother's shoulder. Molly kept one hand stroking Ginny's hair, and the other stroking Fred's. It was all wrong. She had never seen such loss on George's face. Ginny had always read that the dead appeared to be sleeping. "Ridiculous," she thought. Anyone who knew Fred knew that he slept on his side, and he talked in his sleep. Ron used to make fun of him for it; it was the only dirt he could find on the twins, who somehow had so much on him. She closed her eyes.

"Ooh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger!" yelled Luna from somewhere by the giant windows. Ginny opened her eyes and looked around just in time to see Harry disappear under his cloak, unnoticed by everyone else. Seconds later, Ron and Hermione, who had been huddled with their arms around each other, stood up and left the Great Hall. Ginny knew that Harry was with them. She would look for him later, she knew. They would be together, and, eventually, everything would return to normal. Even as she thought the words, she realized that they were untrue. What was normal? None of them had ever experienced a life devoid of fear, pain, and loss. "Well," she thought, looking out the windows at the new sun, "we'll just have to make a new normal."

Harry /

Harry awoke in a blur before the reality of the day set in. A glance at the watch Mrs. Weasley had given him, seemingly years ago, told him that it was 5:30 pm. He must have slept through the day, something that he found he did not regret at all. He hadn't had a good sleep in far too long. Harry sat up and swung his legs off of the bed and through the thick curtains. They collided painfully with a large object next to the curtained four-poster, and one of Uncle Vernon's choicest swear words slipped loudly through his gritted teeth.

"Oi! There are ladies present!" came Ron's voice from somewhere beyond the curtain. He heard Hermione laugh. Holding his shin and pulling the curtain aside, perhaps more violently than he normally would have, Harry glared at Ron, who was sitting cross-legged with Hermione on his own bed, playing Wizard's Chess. Hermione seemed to be getting better, he noted. Either that, or Ron was letting her win. The source of his pain, however, was a large armchair, one of Ron's favorites from the common room downstairs, which contained the sleeping form of a slender red-haired figure, instantly recognizable as Ginny. Harry felt strong emotions stir in his chest. Ron looked alarmed.

"Don't cry, mate. There's been enough of that from Hermione already." Harry and Hermione both rolled their eyes.

"How long has she been here?" he asked, nodding to Ginny.

"About three hours," said Hermione. "She was awake for about an hour, and then I think she started pretending to be asleep so that Ron would shut up about her being here. ("What?" said Ron.) I think she really fell asleep shortly after that." Hermione laughed at Ron's incredulous expression. "Checkmate!"

"Very funny."

"No, really, Ronald. Checkmate."

"What?" Ron was aghast. Apparently he hadn't been losing on purpose, thought Harry, chuckling. He had never been a very good actor. Harry laughed uproariously, suddenly the situation seemed very funny. Hermione looked alarmed, and Ron threw a sock at Harry. It landed feebly at his feet, which made him laugh harder.

"Damn you, Harry, stop _laughing_!" yelled Ron. Harry stopped, and a serious expression came over his face.

"Ron."

"Yeah?"

"Don't swear, mate. There are ladies present." Hermione took one look at Ron's infuriated face and burst out laughing, too. Ron launched himself at Harry and tripped spectacularly, almost knocking over Ginny's chair. She woke with a start.

"Ron! What the bloody hell are you doing?" she shrieked as he lay sprawled on the carpet. Hermione and Harry laughed harder, and Ginny joined in once she saw Ron laying pathetically on the rug. Harry hadn't felt this amused since he had sat with Hermione and Ron on the banks of a lake, watching the dragon from Gringotts soar nearby. Even then, their laughter had still been underlined with fear. He didn't remember the last time that he had felt truly carefree and happy. He reached for Ginny's hand and squeezed it. She turned to face him and smiled with joy and mirth in her deep, brown eyes. At her smile, the emotions in his chest threatened to break through some sort of dam. He wasn't even sure what he was feeling. Why her happiness was the most important thing, the most amazing thing to him. His confusion must have shown in his eyes, for suddenly Ginny looked confused, too.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said. "I think I'm just figuring something out." She smiled again and ran her hand through his hair. They looked at each other. The atmosphere in the room subtly changed.

"Well!" said Hermione loudly, as if to remind Harry of their presence. "I fancy a walk. Ron does too. We'll see you two later, then!" she said, smiling to herself. Ron, clueless as ever, gaped at her.

"Wha?" he said, as she dragged him to the door. "Where are we walking? Hermione?" And then they were gone, Ron's protests fading behind the closing of the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Hermione sure knows how to pick, them, doesn't she," Ginny said. Harry laughed nervously. They hadn't been alone together since right before he left on his dark journey for horcruxes. He wondered if she thought about that sunny morning as often as he did. They sat in silence for a minute, and strangely, Harry found, it wasn't at all awkward. She was the only person that made him feel whole simply by sitting with him, here at the end of all of the fear.

"Harry…" she said slowly, after a time. He turned, intending to ask "What? or Yeah?", but the question died on his lips. She was very close to him. Very, very close. He could count her freckles, and he found that he almost wanted to. He wanted to know everything about her. She looked into his eyes and he saw something there, something he had seen at the Burrow, something he didn't quite understand, but that he felt. Her lips were inches from his own.

Ginny kissed him slowly, deeply. This was a different kind of kiss. It was urgent, but not the kind of urgent that made him think it might be the last time he ever kissed her. It was not like at the Burrow. They had nothing to lose. Harry could have stayed here forever.

There was a crack from downstairs. Ginny's lips, moving against his own, froze. They looked at each other and then slowly walked to the staircase leading to the boy's dormitory. Together, they looked down.

"If this is Ron, I'll throttle him," said Ginny, simply but dangerously, before she grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him down the stairs with her.


	2. What You've Started

**Song to play: Peter Gabriel - I Grieve (0:00 - 4:53) (after 4:53 it changes to something that doesn't match the feeling at all, so just stop it there and replay it if you feel like it.)**

AN: When I mention songs to play, it would be awesome if you actually played them. They're the songs I wrote each chapter to, so they kind of influence the beat/flow/emotions of the fics. =) You don't have to, but it's kind of a fun thing to do.

Harry /

Ron, it transpired, was not in the common room. In fact, Harry noted, from a glance and double-take out the window, Ron and Hermione would probably not be back for quite some time. He cleared his throat awkwardly and turned back to the coffee table, on which Kreacher had laid even more sandwiches, hence the loud crack as he appeared and disappeared to and from the kitchens.

"What?" asked Ginny, who had noticed Harry's cough.

"Hm? Nothing," said Harry, stepping nonchalantly in front of the window. Ginny wasn't fooled for an instant. She gave him a look that was usually reserved for Ron, and stepped around him. He saw her eyes widen, and she turned back around quickly on one heel. "Ooo-kay," she said, exhaling loudly. "That was something that I never needed to see. Well, at least he can't ever speak to me about snogging anyone ever again." She shook her head as if to remove the image of Ron pinning Hermione against a tree permanently from her mind. They turned back to the sandwiches Kreacher had brought. From the amount and variety of them, it really seemed as though the elf was trying to make up for lost time. Harry smiled sadly as he thought about the fact that if Dobby had brought them, they probably would have been shaped like Harry's head, or something equally awkward to explain to passers-by. Ginny noticed his facial expression and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled back to look at his face.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"What were you 'figuring out' earlier?" she asked, curiosity shining in her eyes. Harry grinned.

"I'm not sure I should tell you," he said.

"Now that you've said that, you know I'll make you. You have to finish what you've started," she demanded, stepping back to put her hands on her hips. He hesitated.

"Fine. Well, just to warn you, it'll probably sound like something mental that Ron would say while on some kind of love potion or something." She narrowed her eyes.

"If you're about to confess your love for Romilda Vane…"

"What? Of course not!"

"Well then, it can't be that bad," she said. Harry relented.

"Okay. Well, I was looking at you laughing before and feeling…just feeling, like my whole heart was on fire or something. And I've never felt like that before, and it took me a while because I have about the emotional intelligence of, well, Ron, but I realized that I love you. And that sounds stupid because I'm pretty sure I've loved you for a while, but it took me a while to figure out how much. So now you can laugh about it and we can eat our sandwiches." He closed his eyes and grimaced, ready for her to laugh or roll her eyes, or, worst case scenario, both.

"Harry."

The voice came from closer than he expected it. He opened his eyes. She was standing very close to him, again.

"You're not laughing," he said. It hovered somewhere between a question and a statement.

"I'm not laughing, Harry," she said simply.

"Why?" he said, half confused, half scared. Maybe he sounded like a lunatic, and she was about to curse him.

"Because I've been waiting for you to say something that stupid for a very long time." She took one more step, closing the gap between them.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked stupidly, and then mentally kicked himself. She did roll her eyes this time.

"You have to finish what you've started," she said again, kissing him fiercely. He responded with fervor, and soon Ginny was pinned between the wall of the common room and Harry. One of his hands rested on the wall beside her, and the other rested in the small of her back, tracing circles just below the end of her long, floral-scented hair. Ginny suddenly turned her head to the side and pulled out her wand. Registering his startled expression, she laughed.

"Relax, Harry. I'm just doing a preemptive strike before Ronald actually does burst through the door," she said. "Colloportus!" Harry watched as the portrait hole squelched closed. Ginny's hand quickly redirected his gaze back to her, and they continued where they had left off.

Harry noticed the change the moment it happened.

It was subtle. A deeper curve of her back, a slight turn of her head. His heart beat faster as Ginny kissed from the corner of his mouth to his jawline. Harry buried his face in her exposed neck and inhaled her intoxicating scent. His entire body hummed as he kissed the pulse under her skin, and her ragged breathing stuttered and sped up. He felt one of her slender legs travel up the side of his own, and he knew, in that moment, that everything he had done and been through up until this very second had been entirely worth it, just to be here with her right now.

Her hand slipped from his shoulder and traveled down the buttons of the one shirt that hadn't been ruined by his journey. Harry was, in that moment, briefly very glad that he had the foresight to bathe and change clothing before tumbling into his bed and passing out. Suddenly he registered that Ginny's small hand was not just resting on his stomach: she was unbuttoning his shirt with one hand. A brief moment of panic seized him, and his breathing caught in his throat. Her hand stopped moving, and he felt her lips at his ear.

"Harry," she whispered. "Please." She was so sure, so warm. Before he knew what he was even doing, he nodded. She kissed his neck, and once again he felt her warm breath by her ear.

"I love you, too." It was almost a gasp, and he felt a warmth run through his entire body. He brought her face to his and kissed her with a passion that he was vaguely sure would have rendered Colloportus unnecessary, because he was positive that even the people moving floors or perhaps miles away from them must have noticed it. Ginny's hand worked on his buttons, faster this time, and with more resolve. He would have to ask her later where she learned to do that, he noted as his shirt slipped fluidly from his shoulders. Ginny slid her hand back up his body and smiled against his mouth.

"Quidditch was good to you," she murmured against his lips. Harry smiled. "Harry?" she said, pulling back a fraction of an inch to look him in the eyes.

"Ginny?"

"I think I'm wearing too many clothes, she said with a crooked smile. He kissed her.

"I agree," he said, surprising himself with his boldness. She seemed a little surprised too, and she whispered her next words next to his mouth.

"What are you going to do about it?" Her teeth grazed his bottom lip, sending a thrill through his nerves.

"I'll think of something," Harry murmured against her lips, and he dropped one hand to massage her waist. The lacy white material of her shirt began to ride up over the delicate curve of her hip bone. He stroked it, and she shivered, kissing him harder. He brought his other hand to her waist as well and began to slide her shirt up her slim body, marveling at how good, how smooth and warm, she felt under his war-calloused hands. When the shirt reached mid-ribcage, she softly disentangled her hands from him and stepped away slowly, turning her back to him. His brow furrowed, and he wondered if maybe they had gone too far. Maybe she was panicking. Should he comfort her, or stay away? Then he felt his heart almost stop. Ginny delicately grasped the shirt and slowly pulled it over her head, revealing the back of a cornflower blue bra before her shining hair tumbled loosely down her back again. Harry drew in a sharp breath, and she turned around, not looking him in the eye. His eyes traveled up from the waistband of her jeans to her flat stomach, and up to her small but perfect breasts cradled in the dusky blue lace bra. Freckles covered her shoulders like a constellation, and her hair was slightly mussed from removing her shirt. She still gazed at the floor and bit her lip.

"Ginny? Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. He couldn't help himself, he crossed the floor towards her and lifted her chin with a finger. She was breathing heavily, almost as if she was about to cry. He didn't know what to say. She took another deep breath, and then slid her arms around him. He hugged her to him, ignoring how she physically felt in his arms for the present time. She spoke into his shoulder shakily.

"I had…dreams. While you were away," she said, hesitantly. "About us," she paused again. Together," she said, slowly. It took him a moment.

"Oh!" said Harry, catching on. "Oh." He turned slightly red, and hoped desperately that she didn't notice this. "What's the matter," he asked, desperate to help. She shouldn't feel sad, not her. It just shouldn't be allowed. It was wrong.

"In the dreams," she said, "everything was…perfect. Just like this. Well, not this perfect, only as perfect as dreams can be." Harry had time to mentally register that she had just told him that he was better than a dream before she continued. "But then something would go wrong. Suddenly it was dark, and I realized, well I just, _knew_, somehow, that you had died. I would wake up and think for a second that you had actually died before I remembered that it was a dream. And then…" her voice caught, "then I would remember that we didn't know, and that for all I knew you actually were dead." He hugged her tighter. "And I'm fine, now, Harry. I'm _fine_. I just needed…a second without you so near to me to convince myself that I'm not dreaming and that nothing will go dark again. I can't have that happen again, thinking that you've died. I can't." He felt a tear fall from her eye onto his shoulder, and he briefly broke their tight embrace to kiss her closed eyelids.

"I'm here," he said into her hair. "And everything dark is over. The only thing we have to worry about is Ron's rubbish timing." She laughed and hugged him tightly once again, and he was deeply relieved.

"I'm so sorry, Harry, she said. I just ruined everything, didn't I?" she said. Harry was incredulous. She clearly didn't understand.

"Ginny. Right now it is everything, _everything_ to me just to have you here. She looked into his eyes, and he kissed her again, with no intention of stopping for quite a while.

The sandwiches were entirely forgotten.

AN/ Still not finished! This one has at least one more chapter to go. Please R+R, I'd like to know what you think. I want to keep the physical stuff pretty non-explicit out of respect for the characters J.K. Rowling has created, and because I think it's more meaningful this way. We'll see more of Ron and Hermione in the next chapter.


	3. Deal

**Song to play: Fix You — Coldplay**

Even less than an hour later, Harry found that his memory came in snippets. Ginny counter-charming the staircase to the girls' dormitory to avoid Harry turning it into a slide. Ginny's eyes. The sunlight on the freckles of her shoulder. The little gasps she made that almost made him feverish. The things that made her bite her lip. Her soft fingers clawing at him like he was saving her from drowning. Wrong, of course. She was saving him. Or maybe they had saved each other. All he knew was that wherever she went, he would follow, if she let him. Nothing else was even a possibility.

They made it back to the common room at the same time, seemingly as Hermione and Ron did. The presence of their friends was announced by the sounds of an argument at the other side of the door.

"Well, bust through it!"

"Ronald Weasley! Obviously if it's sealed, it's sealed for a reason. I'm not just going to 'bust through it'!"

"Well?" demanded Ron of an unseen someone.

"I'm sorry, dear," came the voice of the Fat Lady. "My portrait has been sealed from the inside, I can't do anything about it." Ron roared with frustration, and Ginny and Harry began to laugh.

"I'm going to _MURDER_ Harry when i get through this door!" shouted Ron. That stopped Harry laughing. Ginny patted his arm.

"Don't worry, he won't touch you if I threaten him with the Bat-Bogey hex." Outside the argument continued.

"—being a hypocrite, Ronald," Hermione was saying.

"We'd better let them in," said Ginny. "Before Ron destroys something."

"Speak for yourself, said Harry, moving behind a nearby armchair. Ginny laughed and aimed her wand at the portrait hole, which burst open. The Fat Lady yelled "Now, really!" as Ron charged into the room, looking around wildly. Ginny crossed her arms. Ron looked from Harry to Ginny. Harry grinned sheepishly. That seemed to be all Ron needed to know, and he spluttered, turning a funny mix of red and purple. Hermione put her hand on his arm. Harry had time to be thankful that Ginny had the clarity of mind to move them upstairs and seal the door, that Hermione was a decent person, and that they were wearing clothes before Ron regained his voice.

"What exactly are your intentions?" he blurted loudly. Harry gaped. Hermione and Ginny both raised their eyebrows.

"Really, Ron?" said Ginny, infuriated. "You are actually asking your best friend what his 'intentions' are with me?" She snorted angrily. "I may as well ask you the same! What are your _intentions _with Hermione?" Both Harry and Hermione suddenly became very interested in random objects across the room or out the window as the siblings continued to shout. After about five minutes, both Weasleys sat down in a huff. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other nervously and then sat down as well. Ron looked at Harry with a mix of incredulity and irritation.

"I can't believe…you didn't _really_…my _sister_…it's only been _hours _since you killed you-know-who. ("Honestly Ron, he's _dead_! Use his name," interjected Hermione.) I mean…yesterday at this time we were still on the run in Aberforth's. This is….completely mental!" Ginny flared up again with derisive laughter.

"And what were _you_ two doing outside, then? Admiring the scenery?" Ron stared at her.

"We…that's completely….that's not even…completely besides…that's off the point!" he yelled. Harry had a flashback to the Yule Ball, and he could tell that Hermione was thinking the same thing. Ron changed his defensive.

"We just walked! That's all!" Hermione glanced sideways at him. Harry chuckled against his will, and Ron looked murderous.

"What, Harry?" demanded Ron. Ginny started to speak, but Ron flapped his hand at her. "Shut up, Ginny." She pulled out her wand threateningly, but Harry lowered her arm back to her side and held her hand. There would be no civil talk if Ron had giant flapping bogeys on his face.

"We…er…well we saw you two accidentally through the window…kind of….er…snogging…very er…_passionately_ against a tree." He avoided looking at Hermione as he said this, but he saw her bury her face in her hands. The color drained from Ron's face, a considerable feat, as he had achieved an alarming shade of red.

"Oh." he said defeatedly.

"Yes, '_oh' _said Ginny darkly. So you can come off your high virginal horse now and simmer down." Hermione still hadn't emerged from her hands. Harry was sure that this was the most awkward he had ever felt in his life. Ginny seemed to be the only one who wasn't feeling the embarrassment of the situation. She simply looked smug. After a full minute of silence, Ron spoke again, and Hermione lifted her head.

"Remember when all we did was ride broomsticks and play exploding snap…" They all stared at him. He looked so woeful that Harry began to laugh, which caused Hermione and Ginny to laugh too.

"Would you like a gravestone for your virginity, Ronald?" asked Ginny between laughs. "I'm sure that George would make you one happily." The loss of Fred hung in the air for a second, but it seemed to Harry that what Fred would have hated more than anything would be for someone to _stop_ laughing because of him. Ron and Hermione both looked bewildered, however.

"Virginity?" asked Hermione. "Oh honestly. We just snogged for a while, there was none of that!" For the first time, Ginny blanched.

"Damn…" she whispered. Realization was slowly dawning on Ron's face. Hermione's comprehension started later but arrived more quickly.

"Oh. _Oh! _Ron! Let's take another walk." She jumped up, looking desperate. Harry realized that he was completely wrong about thirty seconds ago being the most awkward moment of his life. He would have given anything to sink through the floor. In fact, several floors would have been even better. Ron was completely silent for a moment, and Hermione quickly grabbed his wand from beside him in the armchair. He didn't seem to notice.

"Harry…" said Ron slowly.

"Er…yes?" answered Harry, wondering if he should grab a cushion or a blunt object to defend himself.

"I know I'm your best friend, mate, but if you ever tell me one single bloody detail of the past two hours I will strangle you while you sleep." Harry's breath left him in a whoosh.

"Deal," he said, still wanting to disappear. Ron turned to Ginny.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Ginny snorted with disdain.

"Of course I'm _okay_, Ron. For goodness' sake, I'm barely a year younger that you are! You were chased by spiders, attacked by a plant and a giant chess set, dragged into a tree by a convicted murderer, cursed by death eaters, poisoned, and snogged by Lavender Brown by the time you were my age. I'm not going to be squished to death between Harry and a wall." She realized she had said too much the moment the words left her mouth. Hermione blinked but recovered quickly. Ginny looked panicked at the expression on Ron's face.

"Run," advised Hermione simply. Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him quickly to the portrait hole. Before the portrait closed Harry could yell Ron's bellow of "_Between Harry and_ A _WALL_?" They only stopped running when they were three corridors away.

"We should probably keep going," said Harry, nervously.

"We'll hear him coming if he gets past Hermione," said Ginny. "When he runs he sounds like a bull elephant." Harry laughed.

"He's actually going to murder me, you know," he said. "You should have explained that we were actually on a bed for a good portion of it." Ginny grimaced.

"Fine. You go back and explain it to him, then." They leaned against the stone wall and laughed. After a while. Ginny smiled broadly. "You know what?"

"What?" asked Harry, leaning sideways on the wall to look at her.

"I was just thinking…if Ronald is the only one with murderous intentions towards you at the moment, life should be fairly good from now on, comparatively." Harry laughed and nodded in agreement.

"If I start having funny dreams about him running around with hooded blokes, or if his nose starts disappearing, I'll inform you immediately," he said with mock seriousness. She laughed and turned so that he was between her and the wall. She kissed him briefly, and then stood on her tiptoes to brush her lips past his painless scar before returning to his lips. They carried on happily, Harry still keeping one part of his hearing tuned to hear a rampaging Ron.

"Harry?" said Ginny against his lips.

"Yeah?" he smiled.

"Tell me if I'm squishing you in advance, alright? I'd hate to have to tell Ron that you're not okay."

"Deal," he said, as he continued to kiss her, happier than he'd been in seven years.

AN: Yes, it is finished now. Thanks for reading! I'd still really appreciate reviews; I'll be doing a lot more Harry Potter fics over the next few weeks, and I'd like to know what you think!


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